Random Facts #2: The Fury of the Sacred Chickens

I love ancient Roman history. It comes in a close second behind medieval history for my all-time favorite subjects. It's one of those few periods where everything to study fascinates me; social systems, politics, military science, economics, and religion. Roman history is full of the weird and wonderful, and I'm going to share with you today my personal favorite story.

Sacred Chicken and his pet priests

Strangely, when a lot of people think about the Romans, they neglect to remember Roman religion. But for this story to make sense, you have to remember that the Romans were a deeply religious people; gladiatorial games originated as religious festivals, the Pantheon was a temple, and there is a reason that they got upset when various groups refused to acknowledge dead emperors as gods.

That or the Romans built the largest free-standing dome in the world because they just really liked circles!

Our story takes place in 249 BCE in the middle of the First Punic War. This was a war fought between the Roman Republic and her rival Carthage for supremacy of Sicily and the wider Mediterranean world. The more famous Second Punic War would take place a few decades later; that was the one with Hannibal and elephants marching over the Alps. The first war was largely a naval affair, with several battles between navies being fought for control of Mediterranean waters. Early on, the Romans did extremely poorly in these contests. The Carthaginians were descendants of the Phoenicians who were the greatest sailors and explorers of the ancient world.

This did not end well...

Finally however, the Romans invented a weapon called the Corvus which allowed them to latch onto the more maneuverable enemy ships so that Roman infantry could slaughter the crews. I won't get into specifics here, but Roman naval tactics were really neat and I encourage you to read more about them if you're interested. The war went back and forth, but Rome racked up enough naval victories to make them fairly confident, and in 249 BCE they launched an expedition towards the Sicilian city of Lilybaeum, and that's where our story really gets going.

The commander of this expedition was the senior Roman Consul for that year, Publius Claudius Pulcher. The Romans elected two Consuls every year, and they served as sort of co-presidents of the Roman Republic. One of their main responsibilities were leading major Roman armies, hence Pulcher being involved here. Pulcher decided to attack the harbor of Drepana, where a Carthaginian fleet was anchored; both fleets consisted of about 120 ships, and the Romans were confident.

Now here is where the sacred chickens came in. Sacred Chickens were birds raised by Roman priests and used to predict the future. The early Senate rarely made decisions without consulting these birds, and some of them accompanied Roman field armies. Essentially feed would be spread before the chickens, and the way they ate the feed was used to determine the outcome of a future event. I'm not sure exactly how this was determined, but that's besides the point.

Still more dependable than a TV Psychic...

So as Pulcher lined his fleet up for battle, the sacred chickens were brought onto the deck of his flagship and the major officers and crewman of the fleet gathered around to watch the divination take place. The sacred feed was spread and... nothing. The chickens refused to eat. This was unheard of, and immediately taken as an extremely bad omen, with some of the officers believing that it was a sign that a retreat should immediately be called. Pulcher could see that his men were terrified, and decided to make a joke to keep up morale. It did not go well.

Seriously this story is so weird...

Pulcher plucked (ahem) up the chickens and carried them to the edge of his ship. He then proclaimed "Since they do not wish to eat, then let them drink!" and proceeded to chuck the chickens overboard, where they drowned. We aren't sure of his men's reaction to this, but the battle happened anyway and I bet you can guess how it turned out.

The fuck you say?

Of 120 ships, the Romans lost 93 and most of their men. The Carthaginians lost no ships and only a handful of their men were killed. The battle was a crushing defeat for the Romans, who instantly lost their dominance of the sea. Pulcher survived the battle, but was immediately recalled to Rome. The battle had been such a disaster that the Senate commanded Pulcher to nominate a man as dictator; a person given supreme authority and answerable to nobody during national emergencies. However, the Senate disliked his choice, and decided they'd had enough of Pulcher. He was tried for incompetence, treason and, perhaps equally as bad, sacrilege. According to ancient historians including Cicero and Suetonius, the main piece of evidence against him was his abuse of the sacred chickens. Soon after Pulcher was dead; we aren't sure how, but it is extremely likely that he committed suicide in shame.


And that, boys and girls, is why you don't mess with the sacred chickens. And yeah, I know most of these pictures are of Roosters and not chickens, but bite me.